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Google raises its profile

In a deal that is drenched in symbolism, Google has signed an agreement with the Nasa Ames research centre to build a new corporate campus on its grounds in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The agreement is huge for Google: the company is moving into the birth chamber of Silicon Valley. The Ames Research Centre is based on the naval airbase Moffett Field. That also happens to house a hangar (left of the "a" on the map below) that was once used for the construction of Zeppelins.

Following the crash of the Hindenburg the factory was closed. But the technologists that worked there are said to have been instrumental in providing the early work force for Silicon Valley companies.

The new campus also is just stone's throw away Google's current dwelling.

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Tags: google, ames, nasa, mountain view, silicon valley

September 30, 2005 at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

eDonkey shuts down after all

Rumours about eDonkey's stubborn survival are highly overrated, it turned out earlier this week. The peer to peer file sharing network testified before a Senate Committee that it is has ceased to support its network.

The company leashed out against Reuters last week after the news agency reported that the company was facing troubles and had to close its New York office.

Not true, the company responded, we've merely moved. But the website still listed the New York address. And without a peer to peer network, eDonkey is like a grocery store without an entrance.

But don’t' mourn too much over the loss of eDonkey. Parent company still exists and allegedly is working on a new p2p network that no doubt will be shaped to prevent that a recent legal ruling by the US Supreme Court doesn't apply.

The RIAA nfor now has won a battle in the copyright war, but still doesn't look very good in the war.

Tags: RIAA, edonkey, p2p, peer to peer

September 29, 2005 at 11:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

A $94bn promise from the founder of EA Games

When Trip Hawkins left EA Games as CEO and started the mobile gaming company Digital Chocolate, he set out on a mission to create a $94bn market for mobile games. At least that's how he put it on Wednesday morning in a keynote at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment tradeshow in San Francisco.

Hawkins is betting on social games to create this opportunity, and the first one called MLSN Sports Picks will be launched next month in the US.

Click here to watch a video of Hawkins' demonstration of the game (10.7 Mb .wmv download)

Hawkins at CTIA

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Tags: CTIA, CTIA wireless, gaming, digital chocolate, mobile gaming, Trip Hawkins

September 29, 2005 at 03:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What's next in mobile services?

At the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment tradeshow in San Francisco a panel of European and Asian mobile operators were asked what consumer can expect next.

For your enjoyment below their predictions.

1: Mahesh Prasad, Presisdent with Reliance, an Indian CDMA carrier:
Voice recognition services
More localised content (non-western pop music for ringtones)

2: Graeme Ferguson, director of global content development with Vodafone:
Music download services
Mobile TV and messaging

3: JH Kah, vice president of Global with SKT (South Korea Telecom)
3G, as in:
Girls (porn)
Gambling
Games

4: Matt Dacey, head of Content for O2
Mobile blogging and communities: they don't cost operators a thing to create and drive a lot of traffic

From right to left: Mahesh Prasad, Masaaki Maeda (DoCoMo - not mentioned above), Graeme Ferguson, JH Kah, Matt Dacey.

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Tags:  CTIA, CTIA wireless, O2, vodafone, SKT

September 29, 2005 at 03:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

SanDisk brings iPod on a chip

With the market of memory chips of digital cameras reaching a saturation point, SanDisk thinks it has found new hunting fields in storing digital content.

The company on Tuesday at the CTIA Wireless tradeshow in San Francisco unveiled its net TrustedFlash memory chips, bundling DRM technology on a flash memory chips which effectively creates an iPod on a chip.

It's a clever idea, if it works. SanDisk now allows memory chips to become the next version of the audio CD, and the technology just as easily can be used for storing games or video content.

The chip will play on mobile phones and in the future other versions are set to be released that will work other devices including PDAs and media players.

Future applications even will include the ability to play content from subscription music services such as Napster and Yahoo Music! Also, don't forget to add pay per view movies to the mix.

If only you wouldn't have to use a flash memory chip…

SanDisk chief executive Eli Harari

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Tags: CTIA, CTIA wireless, sandisk

September 28, 2005 at 02:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is a secure mobile phone a silver lined hell?

The Trusted Computing Group (TCG) at the CTIA Wireless tradeshow in San Francisco unfolded an initiative that seeks to create specifications for hardware based security on a mobile phone.

The result will be very similar to the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for desktop and laptop computers, which combines an encryption engine, unique identifier number and secure storage on a single chip.

For a mobile phone this could for instance allow a secure SIM-lock and prevent unauthorised software from installing on the device.

But as the EFF points out, this isn't all good. Some of the features are specifically aimed at limiting what a user can do with his mobile phone, even more so than is the case today. To add insult to injury, TCG now is even openly aiming DRM technology as one of the chips applications. With the desktop version the organisation at least created an image of being impartial, saying that the chip could be used for DRM, but wasn't designed for it.

In the mobile phone market, the consumer has already lost the battle for control over their devices. By subsidising handsets, they can make an argument for limiting which ringtones and software the consumer can use. And with a mobile TPM-like chip this will only get worse. Security will come at a very steep price.

Tags: TPM, trusted computing group, TCG, trusted platform group

September 28, 2005 at 02:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Gates' Windows Treo lie

When Bill Gates said at Monday's Window Treo press conference that he has been using his new Windows powered Treo mobile phone, it was rather obvious that he was lying. The Microsoft chairman was playing around with the device all the time during the event, making it rather obvious that this was the first time that he touched a Windows Treo.

Gates certainly didn't bother to take "his" new mobile phone home with him. On Tuesday at a keynote presentation at the CTIA Wireless tradeshow in San Francisco, Suzan DelBene, corporate vice president of marketing for Microsoft's mobile and embedded devices division, held up the device.

Her keynote was extremely boring and uneventful. You know for sure that a company isn't even trying to say something new or interesting when they send a marketing manager to deliver a keynote, but that's besides the point.

Back to Gates' Treo:  DelBene even said the device she was holding up was the same that Gates had held the day before. She went on to say that they had been forced to disable its network connection because people kept calling the number and sending text messages after Palm had displayed the phone number on Monday.

Gates is one of those people that is important enough not to own a mobile phone (his assistant can carry one for him), although he is enough of a geek to carry one anyway.

But for the sake of honesty, don't claim that you have been using a device just because it sounds nice at a press conference, Mr. Gates. It makes me think what other things that you said were made up.

Gates om Monday - playing with his Treo.

DelBene on Tuesday holding the same phone

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tags: palm, Microsoft, Palm os, windows, windows mobile, treo, bill gates, CTIA, CTIA Wireless

September 28, 2005 at 02:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Motorola's and Apple's short lived love affair

There must have been a lot of truth to the rumours that the relationship between Apple and Motorola is a rocky one.

During a Churchill Club event last week, Motorola chief executive Ed Zander lashed out against the company that he had partnered with to create the Motola Rokr.

"Screw the Nano. What the hell does the Nano do? Who listens to 1,000 songs?" he said about Apple's newest member of the iPod family.

Zander's comments followed remarks by Steve Jobs earlier that week Apple Expo Paris about the disappointment called Motorola Rokr – better known as the iTunes phone.

“We wrote the iTunes software for that phone,” Jobs said in the understatement of the year. “We see it as something we can learn from. It was a way to put our toe in the water and learn something”.

Both executives have lots to be disappointed. Jobs would be right to be upset about the affront of a music playing telephone that the Rokr turned out to be. While Zander probably was sadended by the fact that most people left the unveiling of the Rokr talking about Apple's iPod Nano (which was presented the same day).

The relation between the two companies is said to have been rocky all along – Zander didn't even bother to show up for the Rokr's unveiling. Just consider this an additional chapter in a very thick book.

Steve Jobs unveils the Motorola Rokr

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Tags: apple, motorola, cingular, rokr, itunes

September 26, 2005 at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Gates on the future of PDAs vs. Smartphones (Windows Treo video)

With the days of the PDA's shortening what is the role of the seperate versions of Windows that have been availabable for portable devices? Watch the video to see what Gates has to say about this.

Click here to watch the video (1.5 Mb .wmv download)

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tags: palm, Microsoft, Palm os, windows, windows mobile, treo

September 26, 2005 at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Windows Treo screenshots

The new Windows Treo won't be shipping until early 2006, and until then Palm won't even give out a product name. The only details that the company did give were that the device is running on an Intel processor and has an EVDO wireless radio.

But a Palm executive this morning at the Windows Treo's unveiling in San Francisco did give a demonstration of some of the device's features:

Watch a PowerPoint presentation on your Treo. Useless for presentations of course, but good for editing or approving an emailed copy.

Outlook email reaches the Treo at last.

Palm enhanced the Windows software with some of its own features, including its reach address book...

...as well as support for multiple inboxes, both email and MMS and other messaging standards.

Palm CEO Ed Collingan touted Windows Mobile's rich media features as one of the device's most valuable features.

Combine a 3G wireless network with this streaming audio player, and you get radio on the go without the need to build in an AM/FM receiver.

Picture view of the address book, another Palm-only feature. Forgot Bill Gates' name? Just look up his picture.

Another feature that Palm thinks will help it win against the competition: Can't take a call? Sent a quick text message by pressing a single butting.

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tags: palm, Microsoft, Palm os, windows, windows mobile, treo

September 26, 2005 at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack